1.5 miles beneath the oceans surface on the seafloor, exists a strange and fascinating
world that thrives in the absence of sunlight. Hydrothermal vents support a rich
ecosystem that includes fish, shrimp, tubeworms, mussels, crabs, and clams. Hydrothermal
Vents can be found on the ocean floor in areas with volcanic activity, where
cracks allow seawater to seep beneath the earth’s crust. The water is heated
up to 400 ° C (756 ° F) by the warmth of the Earth’s mantle, and
it comes gushing out in what looks like plumes of smoke. The ‘smoke’ is
actually superheated water rich with dissolved chemicals and metals. In the absence
of sunlight specially adapted bacteria and similar organisms called archaea are
able to convert the chemicals into useable bio-energy. This process is analogous
to plants’ ability to use sunlight. The bacteria are the base of a hydrothermal
vent community and allow the ecosystem to both exist and flourish.